1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for dry treatment of a fabric, comprising a first chamber and a second chamber each of which is provide with a platform supporting a reserve of open width fabric, said first chamber being for an inlet reserve, and said second chamber being for a delivery reserve; means gradually feeding the fabric into said first chamber; means gradually removing the fabric from said second chamber; a passage having a flattened section containing the fabric in open width form and placing said chambers in communication with each other, having in each of the latter a port through which the fabric passes; blower means blowing air into said passage; heating elements for said air; a first set and a second set of slots in said passage for directing air respectively towards said first chamber or second chamber; first and second sets of gate valves comprising, on the one hand, control means for the access of the air respectively to the first set or second set of slots and, on the other hand, control means of the air return respectively from the first chamber or second chamber to the blower means, access control means and said return control means being movable between an open position and a closed position; and actuating means for said gate valve sets.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Spanish patent No. 532,408 to the present applicant discloses a method and apparatus for the treatment of a fabric, based on an alternating flow of air transporting the fabric from one chamber to another. Nevertheless, this patent does not precisely disclose the automatic system for reversing the air flow direction.
U.S. Ser. No. 796,605 of the same inventor discloses furthermore an automatic reversal system for the air flow direction. Said system is based on the friction that the fabric exerts, on being exhausted from one of the chambers, on a rocking lever. This system has the drawback of producing an undesired tension on the fabric, which may lead to deformation thereof.
Spanish patent application No. 8701418, also of the same inventor, discloses an apparatus in which the automatic air flow direction reversal system is determined by the weight of the corresponding pile, whereby the above mentioned tension is avoided.
Nevertheless, in the apparatus discussed above, irregularities sometimes occur in the formation of the piles, since the fabric entering one chamber from the other through the passage is frequently piled in a disorderly fashion, becoming entangled and the fabric does not spread evenly but partially winds up in the longitudinal direction, whereby it takes on a rope form making further traverse of the fabric through the passage difficult. Correct removal of the fabric from the second chamber is also hindered.
To overcome the said drawback, an apparatus of the type described above has been devised, characterised in that inside each of said chambers generally facing the corresponding port of the passage there is a fabric receiving device allowing the air flow therethrough and adapted to receive the fabric driven into the chamber from the passage without retaining it.
According to a further feature of the invention, one position close to or coinciding with the open position of the access control means associated with one set of slots, corresponds to an intermediate position between the open and closed positions of the other access control means, whereby unequal opposed air currents may flow in said passage, causing a fabric compacting action, compatible with a transfer of the fabric towards one of the chambers.